Does Chrome Have the Mettle to Beat IE, Firefox?

Whenever Google makes a major move I'm interested, so the company has my attention with their brand new browser, dubbed Chrome, launched this week.

I'm always curious what the Google geeks are up to, both because it's usually technically advanced stuff, but also because I'm waiting for the moment when Google jumps the shark. When they get too big and try to do too many things and start to fall off the wall like Humpty Dumpty. (Some think Google is already there.) 

But my anticipation for Chrome has been dampened by a lukewarm review in the San Jose Mercury News today. Chrome needs some polishing, the Merc's Troy Wolverton, writes.

The big difference you notice with Chrome right away is that it doesn't look like Firefox -- or any other Web browser. It doesn't have a menu bar, and there's no way to add one to it.

Instead, at the top of the Chrome program window, you'll find the browser "tabs" for each Web page you have open. In order to change Chrome's settings, print the page you're on or clear your cache, you have to click on one of two icons located near the location bar.

As Google developers describe it, their idea was to emphasize the "content" that you'd access through Chrome, not the browser program or its features. They thought the best way to do that was to keep Chrome's interface -- the buttons, options and icons -- to a minimum.

The problem is that a minimal interface makes it difficult to figure out how get the browser to do what you want it to.

On the other hand, there's one part of Chrome that sounds brilliant. I'm a fan of Firefox's tabbed browsing. But sometimes a problem in one tabbed window crashes the whole browser. As Wolverton writes,

With Firefox, you generally have to guess which tab is causing the problems. Not so with Chrome. It has a "task manager" similar to the one for Windows that allows you to see how much memory or processor capacity each tab or plug-in is consuming and to shut down the ones gobbling up too much of your computer's resources.

I haven't downloaded Chrome yet. I may take the plunge soon, and yet I'm also thinking I may wait for a new version. If you're already using Chrome, drop me a line and tell me what you like about it, and if Chrome's quirks are worth the time and hassle of switching browsers.